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OK, hoping someone out there can help me. I had a dying, then dead, battery in my 2010 e61 535xi. Ordered the Foxwell NT520 OBDII tool. Once it got in I went and got a new battery (Autozone H8-AGM 900 CCA). It is made in Germany and looks exactly like the one I pulled out, but the specs are slightly different. I want to perform the proper registration so that the battery is properly charged (thank you BMW...). Got the battery in, car starts, a quick check with my multimeter shows just over 14volts when the car is running so I am assuming my alternator is still fine.
Now my problem. I plugged in the Foxwell. I had to enter the VIN manually which I thought was odd, but I did it and the scanner seemed to connect. Ran a diagnostic test and saw mostly what I expected, related to this battery failure or some recent issues I had already fixed. Then I went to do the battery registration and told it I had a new battery with different specs. After that I got this error message:
Hoping that those messages mean something to someone out there as they are not clear to me. BTW, the engine was NOT running.
After a web search, I didn't find much, but did see where someone mentioned pushing the start button a couple of times WITHOUT pushing on the brake pedal. I went back out, did that and noticed that the VIN was read automatically this time so I hoped that was a step in the right direction. When I went to battery registration again, I was able to see when the last battery was replaced and it updated the mileage to show I had just replaced the battery a second time in the life of the car. However, it still showed the old battery specs and would not let me input any new specs so I am afraid the alternator is still not set up for the new battery.
Couple of things to try.
Have you cleared all of the old codes?
Now run another diagnostics check and record all error codes.
clear the codes, saving a list of the codes.
Battery registration
I suspect your AdvancedAuto battery is a AGM 95Ah battery, as that is what I put in my car from AdvancedAuto.
Open your battery registration. Review what type of battery is currently showing with the Ah's.
If AGM and 90 Ah are shown, reregister as same type. The BMW's with AGM batteries, from the factory were 90Ah units.
Unless your cars software has been updated within the last year, the 90Ah will be the highest capacity available. If the car was upgraded, then 95Ah. On FLA (flooded lead acid) battery, 105 Ah is the highest capacity.
On your error codes. The area that concerns to me, if it remains, is the lack of communications on the BSD (bit serial data) bus. This is the communications bus between the alternator regulator, IBS and DME. If this in fact is the case, the alternator output will be clamped at 14.2v to protect the battery and cars modules from over voltage. How many miles on the car? If over 100k miles then the regulator brushes may be down below service life.
Good luck, sounds like you do have it under control..
Thanks for the feedback. You are more confident than I; not feeling like things are under control yet.
Car has ~125k miles. I cleared all the codes, but still no luck. I saw this message and am not sure what "Perform following retrofit in CIP-Battery change" means. What is the CIP? I thought I had gotten this tool to do this very operation..
Are the regulator brushes a replacement item? Part # handy and/or DIY? Stupid question, but I assume they are on the alternator?
I will contact the business I got the Foxwell from and see if they can help me. They are on the west coast, so still early yet.
The voltage regulator is attached/integrated into the alternator and the regulator is replaced when the brushes ware below a certain point or the alternator is replaced.
Well, I wanted to provide some feedback on what I have learned so far.
I spoke with the business that I purchased the scanner from. He said the scanner cannot change the battery specs. The only thing the scanner does (at least for BMWs) is let the computer know you installed a new battery. This does not affect how the alternator charges the new battery. The computer still thought I had a lead acid battery. I think that's what it said. Whatever it was it wasn't the AGM type of battery.
So next step, I punted and called the dealer, ~$140 with BMWCCA membership. Called my independent mechanic I use when I don't want, or have time, to fiddle with something, $45. Yesterday I went to the indy and he plugged in his much more official looking screen. At first all he saw were the exact same codes that I was seeing in the Foxwell. That actually made me feel a little better as at least the Foxwell wasn't completely off base or showing different information. Thankfully I am on very good terms with my indy and he let me sit with him and ask questions and I told him exctly what I had done and what I was looking for so we continued digging into his software and finally found the right place to program the new battery specs in. AGM and 95aH were the key bits of data. Now all appears to be set.
The software in the NT520 and NT510 is the exact same so they should function the same. Long story short, the Foxwell does NOT reprogram for a new battery, it will only tell the car you have a new battery which I honestly see no benefit in. It seems to do a lot of other things so I don't feel like it is a complete waste, but it did not do what I needed at this time.
My Ride: 2007 530xi: Sport, NAV, PDC, HUD, Cold Wthr, CA, Logic 7, HD Radio, SAT, Custom NCS coded options 2008 535xi: Sport, Night Vision, NAV, PDC, HUD, Cold Wthr, CA, Logic 7, SAT, Custom NCS coded options, Rear Seat Heat Retrofit, Passport 9500ci
Model Year: 2008
Engine: N54
Originally Posted by ericono
Sorry for the delay. On vacation.
I did not try it with the engine running as that showed up as a possible fault in one of the original messages so I assumed that was a no-no.
Thanks,
Eric
I think that goofy message is supposed to be telling you to do it with it started. Try it. I'm pretty sure this is what I saw recently - failed first, then when I did it with the engine running it worked.
08-05-2018, 09:44 AM
Foxwell battery registering help needed
